Guest Post: Jason Brubaker “The Modern Movie Making Movement”

Guest Post: Jason Brubaker "The Modern Movie Making Movement"

Times HAVE changed. In many, many ways. But what we call Indie Film is an era gone by. The opportunity to create and connect has never been greater — and it means other changes are afoot. Jason Brubaker reached out to me with what I felt was an important idea, but like many I encounter, I was too busy to participate unfortunately.

Jason recognizes that filmmakers no longer need “discriminatory distribution” and can reach audiences with their work in new and different ways. But Jason also recognizes we need to share the info on how we do it. Most importantly, he recognizes this is a community effort. He has done a great service to our community and deserves our thanks. But I am going to let him tell you all about it with a guest post. Thanks Jason!

When I started out, getting a movie made seemed super impossible. Likemost independent filmmakers, I was inspired by the news of KevinSmith, Ed Burns and the other indie filmmakers who were findinginnovative ways to get movies made, seen and sold. These guys inspiredme to take action and gain experience. But instead of staring mycareer in Los Angeles or New York City, I decided to produce a shortfilm in my hometown of York, Pennsylvania.

To accomplish this, I saved up all summer and bought a used Arri BL16mm camera and a few rolls of film. I spent an entire weekendproducing my movie. And after buying some beer for the wrap party, Ipromptly ran out of money. So for the next six months I worked to saveenough money to process the film and transfer it to video. I remembercoming home each night and gazing lovingly at three 400’ rolls ofexposed 16mm film presently collecting dust on my bedroom floor. Thiswas proof that I was indeed a filmmaker.

While I did eventually get the movie processed, transferred and edited– I couldn’t help but feel a little disheartened. I mean, if it tookme a year just to finish a short, how long would it take to get afeature made? To answer this question, I moved to New York City, whereI ended up working alongside the (then) twenty-something year oldentrepreneurial producer, Seth Carmichael. With Seth, I learned whatit took to make features. But I also learned of the next hurdle –discriminatory distribution.

This was a time when most independent feature filmmakers based theirbusiness on the Sundance Dream. “I’m going to make the movie, sell itat Sundance and live happily ever after.” But the reality was, veryfew filmmakers realized this dream. Instead, most traveled thefestival circuit to exhaustion. And in place of a dream distributiondeal, many of these filmmakers forwent money and relinquished theirrights for the mere validation that comes from seeing their titles onthe shelves at local video stores. “At least my movie made it toBlockbuster.”

I eventually transferred to Los Angeles, where my team and I producedour first feature, a silly zombie movie. As expected many traditionaldistributors contacted us, offering crappy deals. And just prior tolosing all hope of income, we decided to set up shop in Amazon. Atfirst, none of the producers liked the idea. I mean, aren’t weconditioned to believe that self-distribution sucks? But then we madeour first sale. We thought this was an anomaly. We had no movie stars,our production value left a lot to be desired and most people on earthhad never heard of our title (including you.) But then we made anothersale… And then a dozen…

That was five years ago.

Since that time, it has become widely accepted that HDSLR cameratechnology, crowdfunding and internet movie distribution marks thedemocratization of independent filmmaking. But in order to prosper,modern moviemakers must now master a whole new set of skills revolvingaround audience engagement and one-off sales. And this creates somequestions. Namely, how the heck do filmmakers source a paying audiencelarge enough to justify a movie budget?

To help the answer these questions, I reached out to TEN of the mostinventive filmmaker thought leaders in the world and asked them toshare their best practices on how to survive and thrive. Suffice it tosay, the responses were overwhelming. I didn’t just receive a fewbullet-points, but I got over 100 pages of extremely NEW and extremelyvaluable filmmaking information!

In organizing the material, I realized that what we had was more thanjust another how-to filmmaking book. I mean, while many fundamentalssuch as screenwriting, production and film finance obviously remainessential to getting a movie made, the material also emphasizes newstrategies, like how to create a crowdfunding campaign, how toleverage social media and how to sell your movie without themiddle-man. Because the information is useful, timely and modern, wesimply called it, The Modern MovieMaking Movement.

And this begs a new question: What does it mean to be a “Modern MovieMaker?”

While the philosophy is evolving, Modern MovieMaking is defined by anera of entrepreneurial filmmakers who do not ask permission to make,market or sell movies. Instead of making movies and hoping the moviewill get seen, picked up and sold through traditional distributionchannels, the modern moviemaker makes movies, directly engages withthe audience and builds community around his or her movie titles. Inreleasing The Modern MovieMaking Movement, we also decided to dosomething else revolutionary – the contributors all agreed to give thematerial away, for FREE!

So if YOU would like to download a copy of The Modern MovieMakingMovement, you can do so by visiting the official site:www.ModernMovieMaking.com

Wishing you all the Modern MovieMaking success in the world!

—Jason Brubaker is a Hollywood based Independent Motion PictureProducer and an expert in internet movie distribution. He is focusedon helping YOU sell movies more easily by growing your fan base,building buzz and creating community around your title. For more info,check out Filmmaking Stuff, at: www.FilmmakingStuff.com